Tag Archives: impulse control

Most of us have more to do than time to do it. We juggle family and job responsibilities, friends, household management, social media, errands, plus a great deal more. And for those of us who are musicians, we’re always trying to find practice time at our instrument. How well we’re able to manage the competing demands in our lives and actually get things done depends on a set of cognitive processes under the umbrella term of executive function.

Good executive function (EF) makes it possible for us to manage ourselves and our resources – to prioritize, stay focused on the task at hand, manage our time, think before acting, be flexible and creative when the unexpected occurs, and maintain some semblance of emotional control when someone challenges us and we may feel like striking back in an inappropriate way.

Good executive function has been found to predict school readiness and success in school at all grade levels, even more than IQ. And significantly for this series of posts about “why study music,” numerous studies have shown that learning to play a musical instrument and studying music improves executive functioning not only in children but also in adults. Continue reading →